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(BBC) Child porn crimes have risen by 1,500% since 1988 and new internet mobile phones could make things even worse. The internet is largely to blame for the huge rise in child porn offences, according to Child Pornography, Child Abuse and the Internet, a report by NCH, formerly National Children's Homes. The charity says 549 child porn offenders were charged or cautioned in 2001, compared with only 35 in 1988. The charity fears new third generation 3G phones, with video streaming, will lead to even more offences because they are in some ways even more anonymous. Full text of report. see also Response to NCH Report (Internet Watch Foundation) and Web wrongly blamed for child-sex offence explosion (Silicon.com).
(Guardian) Britain's crackdown on internet paedophiles faces failure if the US, which provides more than half the images reported here, does not prosecute more abusers, writes John Carr.
(Guardian) The huge scale of internet paedophile activity and use of ever-changing technology mean we need to rethink the way we police it, says Rachel O'Connell.
(Associated Press) Federal officials have cracked an international child pornography ring with arrests in New Jersey, France, Spain and Belarus. The cases stem from an Internet processor of Web site subscriptions in Minsk, Belarus, which collected fees for memberships to child pornography Web sites that brought in millions of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. An executive with a Florida company has pleaded guilty in the case. About two dozen people in New Jersey and 20 others around the nation have been charged with downloading child pornography, including a doctor, a minister and a teacher.
(Washington Post) Operation Pin, a global law enforcement initiative launched by police in Britain, the United States and Australia uses fake sites and chat rooms to crack down on adults who seek to purchase child pornography online or to use the Internet to make inappropriate contact with the underaged. Announced with fanfare and explicitly designed to sow fear, doubt and uncertainty among buyers and sellers in that criminal marketplace, Operation Pin is intended to deter as well as entrap. The project's global presence denies child pornographers the ability to navigate the Net with confidence.
(Associated Press) Cuba tightened its controls over the Internet, prohibiting access over the low-cost government phone service most ordinary citizens have at home. Cuba's communist government already heavily controls access to the Internet. Cubans must have government permission to use the Web legally and most don't, although many can access international e-mail and a more limited government-controlled intranet at government jobs and schools. Now Cubans will need additional approval to access via the nation's regular phone service.
(BBC) Iran's judiciary has ordered one of two main pro-reformist websites to be 'filtered', making it unavailable to internet subscribers in Iran. The Emrooz website was set up by people close to Iran's reformist President, Mohammad Khatami. Since a crackdown on reformist press, the internet has become the main forum for dissident voices in Iran. But with elections approaching, it is feared the judiciary's move may signal a new wave of political repression.
(BBC) A Tokyo court has ruled a Japanese cartoon book obscene, in a landmark court case that sparked debate on freedom of expression and the position of the country's ubiquitous 'manga' cartoons. Monotori Kishi, a 54-year-old publisher, was handed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, for violating Japan's penal code on the sale and distribution of obscene literature.
(IPJustice) An Italian court has rejected the seizure of Sony Playstation game consoles that use modified chips to permit unauthorized uses of the game systems. The question before the Italian court was simple: Does the producer of a device or computer, such as the Sony Play Station Console, have the right to forbid or prevent consumers from making different uses of the device other than the particular use the manufacturer intends? According to this court’s decision under Italian civil law, the answer is no.
(CNET News.com) A dispute over royalty rights on copy-protected CDs and other types of music discs is helping to stall the release of some new music technology, and could result in record labels owing tens of millions of dollars in back payments to music publishers. At issue are 'double session' CDs that include two versions of each song on a disc, formatted for playback on different kinds of devices. The most widely distributed type are copy-protected discs that prevent CD tracks from being copied to a hard drive, but that also include a digital version of the songs, often in Microsoft's Windows Media format, that can be transferred to a computer or portable digital music player. Music publishers and songwriters, who are entitled to payments of a few cents for every copy of a song sold, contend that since these double-format discs hold two copies of songs, they should be paid for both copies.
(BBC) The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has warned it may sue people who swap songs on the internet illegally. The trade group's director general, Andrew Yeates, said it was hoping to encourage new, legitimate services.
(CNET News.com) The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal of a lower court's order that pulled the plug on Aimster, a file-swapping service similar to Napster in design. The justices on Monday declined without explanation to hear the case, which would have been the first Internet music piracy dispute to reach the high court. In general, the Supreme Court accepts only a small percentage of appeals each year. Claiming copyright violations, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Aimster in May 2001, around the same time that its litigation against Napster and Scour was getting under way.
(Washington Post) Despite stiff resistance from airlines and privacy advocates, the U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States. The government will compel airlines and airline reservations companies to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials, after failing to win cooperation in the program's testing phase. The order could be issued as soon as next month. Under the system, all travelers passing through a U.S. airport are to be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived threat to the aircraft.
(Guardian) Some organisations give data protection a bad press and use it as a 'smokescreen for their own shortcomings', the information commissioner said. Richard Thomas, who oversees the Data Protection Act, made a reference to Humberside police, who blamed the act for their failure to keep details of nine separate sex allegations against Ian Huntley. The Soham school caretaker went on to murder Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. see also Information Commissioner clarifies data protection law (out-law.com).
(BBC) As part of growing concerns about national and global security, immigration and asylum, as well as plain old identity theft, the official UK travel document will not just carry a photograph, it will also have a microchip in it. The chip will hold biometric data - unique physiological or behavioural characteristics - and will be mandatory in passports renewed from 2007/8. From mid-2005, this data will be in the form of a digitised photograph which will be matched with the passport's chip. The photo and the chip will have the digital signature of the UK Passport Service (UKPS), in an attempt to protect against possible fraud. One other biometric identifier, iris pattern or fingerprints, will also eventually be stored on the chip and trials are underway in the UK to decide which one is used.
(Guardian) A new internet-only party, claiming to have no policies beyond what its readers agree on, could be in breach of electoral rules, according to academics from Nottingham University. Yourparty.org is hoping to launch next month, in time to fight the European elections in June, but experts have warned that having candidates contractually bound to vote according to supporters could contravene the law.
(RAPID) The European Commission has presented a proposal for a Directive to create a real Internal Market in services by requiring Member States to cut administrative burdens and excessive red tape that can currently prevent businesses from offering their services across borders or from opening premises in other Member States. The proposal will now go forward for adoption by the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers. European Commission proposal for a Directive on services: frequently asked questions and Frequently Asked Questions.
(Press Association) Mobile phones appear to be safe, but more research is needed to be certain they pose no health risks, scientists advising the government said. An expert group, chaired by Professor Anthony Swerdlow, examined all the available evidence from research into the hazards of mobile phones and base stations over the last three years. Some experts have claimed that radiation from mobiles may be linked to brain tumours, headaches, sleeping disorders and memory loss. Professor Swerdlow's group found no evidence for any of these claims, however.
(Silicon.com) The French internet landscape is taking on the look of a battlefield, after the country's MPs approved a second reading earlier this month of the 'Confidence in the digital economy' bill. The bill aims to clarify legislation in several areas: e-commerce; service providers' legal responsibilities; the various remits of regulators; cybercrime; and telecoms. see also French ISPs angry over "Digital Economy" bill (out-law.com).
(Libération) La quasi-totalité des fournisseurs d'accès internet (FAI) français ont menacé de fermer leurs services d'hébergement si le Parlement approuvait en l'état un projet de loi visant à les contraindre à contrôler préablement tous les contenus diffusés sur leurs réseaux. Le texte destiné à renforcer la confiance dans l'économie numérique a déjà été adopté en seconde lecture par l'Assemblée nationale et qui doit examiner le mois prochain par le Sénat. Le texte stipule que les FAI et portails internet hébergeant des pages personnelles ou communautaires "mettent en oeuvre les moyens conformes à l'état de l'art pour empêcher la diffusion de données constitutives des infractions" d'incitation à la haine raciale, de négationnisme et de pédo-pornographie. Outre l'obligation de surveillance et de filtrage pour les hébergeurs, les FAI soulignent qu'une autre disposition du projet de loi désacralise le courrier électronique, qui n'est plus considérée comme de la correspondance privée.
(Susan Crawford) Cyberlaw is usually taught as a mish-mosh of modules - a drop of privacy, a smattering of trademark, a heh-heh at the Barlow manifesto, a moment of copyright (and, in my case, a big dollop of the broadcast flag/analog hole debate), and some bemusement at internet governance. But maybe the real subject is not the application of terrestrial law to the internet. Maybe that's not even interesting. Maybe we need to study what's emerging online and how or whether it consists of sets of rules that individuals and ISPs and corporations and governments are following. But how do I reveal that? How do we find it in a law school classroom? What's on the exam (a frequent question I get)? Send me samples of what a real cyberlaw course should cover. see A Brief Response to Susan Crawford (Ernest Miller).
(CNN) In the past month the U.S. and UK governments have passed laws designed to thwart unsolicited e-mail marketing. Their effect, however, will be unnoticeable because of legal limitations, according to those in the industry. "To breach the rules is not a criminal offence," says Elizabeth Dunn, a compliance manager at the Information Commissioner's Office responsible for enforcing the UK laws. "We don't have the swift injunctive powers that we need to act against those abusing the medium. A lot of people assume the law is stronger than it is." The UK's Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications as flawed because it permits spam sent to businesses providing it includes an option (however legitimate) to unsubscribe from its marketing list. But differentiating between personal and corporate accounts is tricky. The U.S. law dubbed CAN-SPAM, which took effect January 1, differs by allowing spam with an opt-out function to both personal and corporate users. Conversely, it allows states and Internet service providers to sue for e-mails not clearly identified as promotional. Despite fines of up to $2 million, marketers with dubious scruples will be enticed to move their practices to countries out of jurisdiction.
(CircleID) by Susan Crawford. There's a great fight going on right now in Philadelphia, CDT v. Pappert. The case is about a Pennsylvania statute [PDF] that mandates that Pennsylvania ISPs remove access to sites that the AG believes contain child pornography. Now, child pornography is abhorrent and any ISP will cooperate in taking down such sites that it is hosting. But the problem is that in complying with the statute with respect to sites the ISPs don't themselves host, ISPs are (rationally) using either IP blocking ("null routing") or "domain poisoning" techniques, both of which (particularly the IP number blocking) result in rendering inaccessible millions of perfectly legal sites.
(Heise) Im vergangenen Jahr wurden von der Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) 2286 Titel geprüft. Im Jahr 2002 waren es noch 1210 und im Jahr zuvor 949 Titel. Das teilt die USK heute mit. Seit dem 1. April 2003 gilt das neue Jugendschutzgesetz (JuSchG). Bei 1806 Prüfungen seit dessen Inkrafttreten habe es 16-mal ein Veto des Ständigen Vertreters der Obersten Landesjugendbehörden gegeben, um den Kreis der Sachverständigen in Grenzfällen der Entscheidung zu erweitern. Zweimal wurden Prüfentscheidungen auf Antrag des Anbieters im Berufungsverfahren getroffen.
(Guardian) A government campaign to improve internet safety is proving successful but more can be done to stop children falling prey to paedophiles, says John Carr. The industry should perhaps be urged to do more to ensure that children are steered towards moderated, or supervised, chat areas, where the chances of coming to grief are much reduced.
(Guardian) Children who buy the latest mobile phones with internet access are to be barred from using adult services in an attempt to shield them from pornography and gambling and protect them from paedophiles. The new regulations, agreed by the six largest mobile phone operators in the UK, Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Virgin, Vodaphone and 3, will stop them entering chatrooms, porn sites and gambling services. The move follows pressure from child protection charities for the industry to prevent the spread of internet paedophile activity. see also The teenage love affair with phones.
(Reuters) Rapidly expanding voice communications over the Internet should be protected from excessive government regulation and from being pigeonholed as simple phone service, the Federal Communications Commission chairman said. Michael Powell, speaking at the huge Consumer Electronics Show here, said the commission needs to do more work in 2004 on promoting and expanding high-speed communications over the Internet, which he said is crucial to the economy's future. Powell was most vocal about the technology known as voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP. Companies like privately held Vonage and Skype have seen rapid growth in recent months as people embrace low-cost -- even free -- voice communications online with quality comparable to traditional phone service.
(BBC) The health effects of 'threatening' e-mails sent by bosses to their workers has been revealed by researchers. Experts from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College attached blood pressure monitors to volunteers before they opened their inboxes. They found that blood pressure shot up if emails were from their superiors - or written in an aggressive tone. Organisational psychologist Professor Cary Cooper said that e-mail should never be used to discipline staff. "
(New York Times) Teenagers' use of web logs and instant messages.
(Guardian) The residents of one Yorkshire town, Hebden Bridge, got so fed up with being passed over for broadband access that they set up Britain's first ISP cooperative.
(BBC) A new generation of tech-savvy women is emerging but they are still being treated like idiots when it comes to selling gadgets, say experts. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, delegates heard that women needed to be treated with respect by the companies selling products like digital cameras or MP3 players. The technology industry is anxious to tap into the female consumer, as women hold the purse strings for more than $50 billion in gadget spending in the US.
(Guardian) The increasing popularity of the cameraphone is enabling more people to capture, share and publish their chosen images. But not everyone is happy about it. Data indicates that 2003 was a good year for the gadget, both in the US and Europe. Research firm Canalys also reported that 4.9m cameraphones shipped in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the third quarter of last year - 27% more than the previous quarter. The total for the year is expected to be 16m. Canalys predicts that figure will double in 2004. One sign of increasing popularity is growing media panic about cameraphones, surveillance and personal privacy. Last month the business consultancy Meta advised companies not to buy the gadgets for corporate use, suggesting they could be used to leak important intelligence or generate potentially embarrassing images.
(New York Times) When executives from Verizon Communications and Nortel Networks uncorked the champagne, they were celebrating much more than a new equipment contract. By granting Nortel an exclusive 18-month deal to supply the equipment that sends phone calls as digital data like that used over the Internet, Verizon, the nation's biggest phone company, had given a huge lift to a technology known as voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, that some industry executives say could be the most important development in public telecommunications networks since analog switches made way for digital equipment two decades ago.
(GSM Europe) Exchanges of Best Practice in EU Member States and Risk Communication towards its Citizens. The European Commission, GSM Europe/GSM Association and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum are pleased to invite you to a Conference on Mobile Communications: Health, Environment and Society to be held at the Centre A. Borchette in Brussels, on 20th and 21st January 2004. The first day of this major conference will explore the themes of the emerging scientific consensus on health issues, whether there is a need for precautionary measures, sensible governance, risk communication, the environmental consequences of mobile communications and emerging analysis of their social contribution. It will be followed by a second day conference organized by the European Commission on Best Practice Exchanges between Member States. Regulations and strategies to communicate risk to the public differ between Member States. Public authorities will set out their policies and operators will present their experience with voluntary agreements.
(OECD) Hosted by the European Commission, Information Society Directorate-General. The objective of this workshop is to explore the growing problem of spam, with a focus on the international dimension. Participants will: Identify common characteristics, sources and statistics of spam. Examine the variety of approaches to combat spam. Examine the degree to which these approaches have been successful. Consider next steps with a view to increasing international co-operation to address the issue. Date and Venue: 2-3 February 2004, Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB), European Commission, Rue Froissart 36, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium. Participants will be from government, business organisations, civil society and academia. Participation in this workshop is by invitation only. see Agenda.
(SafeBorders) On 6 February 2004, the Safer Internet Day will take place across Europe. This celebration is being promoted by the SAFER INTERNET Awareness Campaign, an initiative by the SafeBorders project supported by the SAFT project, both funded under the EU Safer Internet Programme. The Safer Internet Day focuses on children's rights to a safer Internet. These include the availability of quality information for children and safe interaction, which requires more Internet safety training and improved co-ordination at all levels of society across the private, public and voluntary sectors. The Safer Internet Day will be celebrated simultaneously in 12 European countries (Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) and in Australia with the involvement of Ministers of Education, the Internet industry and hundreds of multiplier organisations. New safer Internet programmes, videos and awards will be presented to the public.
(Europa) Brussels, Belgium 12 & 13 February 2004. The eDemocracy Seminar will be organised by the European Commission (DG Information Society, eGovernment unit). The seminar is both a follow-up to the eGovernment Cernobbio Conference 2003 and to the eGovernment Communication (COM (2003) 567). The event will consist of plenary sessions and break-out sessions around eVoting and eParticipation. The seminar provides a platform in which to take stock of eDemocracy experiments and exchange opinions on the role of ICT for reinforcing participation in democratic decision-making. This is also an opportunity to highlight achievements and landmark national projects, as well as look forward to challenges and priorities for future eDemocracy research. Agenda.
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